Die Vermessung der Welt

This is based on a successful novel that contrasts the life of two eminent scientists, of the mathematician and founder of numbers theory, CF Gauss and the adventurer and explorer of South America (and the rest of the world) Alexander von Humboldt. They come from the same locale (Brunswick in Germany) and are about the same age, but Gauss rises from poverty whereas Humboldt is privileged. And whereas Gauss doesn't like to leave his office and rarely travels, Humboldt does practically nothing but to travel.

The original novel (which I haven't read) was apparently completely rewritten (by the author himself) for the script. The film is lavish and opulent and bears the characteristic sarcasm of its director, Detlev Buck. The duke of Brunswick, for example, is portrayed as a well- meaning nitwit who can't remotely grasp what young Gauss is on about, whereas Gauss is portrayed as a nerd and an eccentric. The movie is entertaining, but almost a bit too opulent for my taste. As always, I hope that it will inspire its viewers to pick up the biographies.

It's a very good film, describing in detail all kinds of inadaptability of scientists in ordinary people's society. Unfortunately, Gauss's part is too dull, as if he could only count it back and forth. Humboldt's exploration of primitive nature is much more interesting. After all, it's good to just look at the scenery. Although the director deliberately added a lot of play with his assistant to Humboldt, throwing can not change this situation.

It is very easy to write than Gauss and von Humboldt are reduced as fictional sketches, first by novel, than by its adaptation. but the film has two virtues - to be a start point for viewer to discover the life of two great scientists and to admire the spirit of period. the basic sin of film - the bizarre use of humour and the not inspired links between the lead characters. sure, it is fiction. sure, the target is real large . but something, after bitter critics, remains. the passion for a cause. the forms of schizoid perspective about life. and the portrait of a world. not the best, far to be the most inspired. but not so awful.

"I am French! I don't read foreigners." Says Emile in response to Alexander Humboldt's musings on Immanuel Kant. Now, who says German movies aren't funny? This one is and I loved it. Directed by Detlev Buck, the film follows two geniuses of the day, geographer/explorer Alexander Humbolt and mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. Adapted from the best-selling novel by Daniel Kehlmann, we are presented with two independent plot strands. Well, maybe not so much plots as let's see how scientists fared in the 18th century - and that is what gives this film the drama: the how they lived.

Gauss had his adventures at home, in Germany. Humboldt his in the Amazon region. Great actors, lush locations (filmed in Germany, Austria and Ecuador) naturalistic production design, decent cinematography and relayed with situation comedy. You feel the cold, the dirt, the grime, the dampness, the horror of life in the late 1700s.

Don't see it as an attempt to give historical facts but to immerse the viewer in a time we can travel to through the eyes of this movie. I can only repeat: I quite loved it. Well done Buck.

I read the one scathing review and don't get that at all. I am a Probability and Statistics Professor who loves all history, even fictionalized accounts. I found the movie delightful. It made me want to research the lives of Gauss and Humboldt. It was a beautiful film and it made me want more. That is what I always want for my students! Anyone would see this as a sweet story of contemporaries juxtaposed by birth and passion. Getting a taste of the math/science in such a stunning way, visually... I would think it would make some appreciate the worlds of maths and science, and motivate some to look deeper. Lovely movie! (Sorry, angry German reviewer.)